


Three Wishes

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Star Trek Winter Holidays Series [11]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Christmas, Fellowship - Freeform, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Togetherness, Visitation, Wishes, holiday spirit, unselfishness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12989493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: McCoy gets visited by a spirit that wants to grant him three wishes.





	Three Wishes

McCoy awoke and realized that the light coming from the front part of his quarters was brighter than when he had retired. Granted, he had been awfully tired after his shift. Half of the crew seemed to have come down with some sort of mysterious bug. Whatever the cause of it, it was a vicious strain, and handling problems stemming from it had left McCoy exhausted. Instead of a relaxing dinner with his friends and recreation with them later, McCoy had opted for a hurried mug of tomato soup and an early bedtime.

He had slept like the dead for hours, or so it had seemed when he was suddenly awakened. He was tired from sleeping so hard and had been thinking over options of what to do with his time until his next shift when he had noticed the light.

Frowning, McCoy eased out of bed and took the few steps around the corner to his easy chair. Then he encountered quite a shock. For a man was sitting in his easy chair, a man whom he knew well.

“Spock? What in the hell are you doing here?” He looked around. “And how did you get in here? Did you use your override control?”

Spock looked up with pleasure written on his face. “Leonard! How good to see you! I missed you at dinner! The pork chops were excellent!”

At the mention of pork chops, McCoy felt his stomach growl and realized that tomato soup is not as filling as first class protein.

“What do you mean, pork chops? You’re a vegetarian. You don’t eat meat.”

“That’s where you are mistaken, Leonard. I do, too, consume meat.”

“I’ve known you for a number of years, and you’re a vegetarian. At least you were when I went to bed. And why in the hell are you using contractions? What’s going on with you, anyway? Are you coming down with that strange bug?”

“The answer to that question might amaze you, Leonard. It is something that you would never guess. I guarantee it.”

“Get that smug look off your face and tell me why you’ve suddenly gone crazy, Spock.”

“There’s your mistake, Leonard.”

Another contraction from the generally fastidious Spock jarred on McCoy’s nerves so much so that he almost missed what his visitor said next.

“You see, Leonard, I am not Spock.”

“Huh? Say what?”

“I am not your friend Spock.”

“You sure as hell look like him and sound like him. Granted, he wouldn’t be sprawled all over my easy chair without permission the way you are.” McCoy’s eyes narrowed. “If you aren’t Spock, then who in the hell are you and why are you in my quarters?”

The stranger who looked like Spock seemed to take great pleasure in answering. He knew that he had McCoy’s undivided attention.

“I am here to give you a present, Leonard.”

“Because this is the Holiday Season, and it is better than to give than to receive, I suppose,” McCoy said with sarcasm and skepticism dripping from every word.

“Why, yes. You are correct. How astute you are.”

“And how much money do I have to give you before I can receive this exciting ‘free’ present for my very own?”

“Oh, Leonard, this is not a scam. What would I need from you when I can enter through locked doors and do not need a spaceship to travel through space?”

McCoy’s eyes narrowed even more. “My soul. Maybe you are after my soul.”

The stranger laughed then. A full belly-laugh. Which he could most certainly do much better than the real Spock who could barely manage the whisper of a smile on his lips. That was probably the first time that McCoy fully accepted that the real Spock was probably fast asleep in his own quarters and not a few feet away from him.

“This is not ‘The Devil And Daniel Webster,’ Leonard. No, this present has no strings attached, not even ones attached to a bow.”

“Are you certain that you aren’t Spock? That reference to Daniel Webster sounds like something clever that he might've come up with.”

“I am not Spock. I just assumed a shape that is familiar to you.”

“Why in the hell would you come to me as Spock?!”

“I do not know, Leonard. You picked my shape; I didn’t.”

“I did?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Okay, you’ve got a present for me. Let’s see it.”

“It’s something that cannot be seen. I am here to grant you three wishes.”

“Oh, hell, you’re the genie out of a lamp that I don’t remember rubbing. And I was beginning to think that you were the three spirits of Christmas come to show me the errors of my ways.”

“Alas, Leonard, I am not from Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol nor am I from Aladdin. You seem to have quite a flair for literature this evening.”

McCoy shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a cultural kind of guy.”

“So what will it be, Leonard? Wealth? Celebrity? Youth? Those are always popular items for people making wishes.”

“No, I know the trick to those. They actually show my selfishness. And if I get those things, it means that someone, somewhere loses them at tragic expense to them. And it will eventually come back as a great tragedy to me. The universe demands balance. I'd have to pay quite a price for those glamorous gifts.”

“You are wise, Leonard.”

“I’m a humanitarian. No, if you are whom you say you are, I cannot make foolish choices,” he said as he took a few steps in thought. Then he stopped. “I know! How about no more suffering anywhere? I’m a doctor. I would like to see happy and healthy people, even if it put me out of business.”

“That is one bad consequence of your wish. Another is that if suffering was eliminated from life, then mankind would not appreciate the good times when everyone was healthy and happy.”

McCoy frowned. “I never thought about it that way. Well, how about this then. I wish that there would be no more wars and conflicts. Lives and terrain are so torn by warfare that it would be a blessing if it no longer existed.”

“Leonard, men must always test themselves against other men. That is why we will always have wars and sporting events. That is the nature of the beast. Men always have to know who is stronger, wiser, richer, whatever. Women, on the other hand, are nest builders. They can get along very well without seeing who is better. No, man must always have conflicts. Otherwise he will grow stale and flabby.”

McCoy was starting to get a little aggravated. It was like talking to Spock. It was more than just his looks that made McCoy think of his nemesis.

“Okay, how about this then. I wish that there were no more hunger and cruel treatment of the innocents. Surely, you can’t object to that!”

The Spock looking spirit shook his head. “Now you are dealing in the realm of Mother Nature, and she has always been a hard deity. Only the strong survive, and there is a good reason for that. Natural selection and weeding of the population must take place, or whole species will disappear from the general weakening that would result. Then, too, if all survived, there would be widespread hunger and pestilence. The population would eventually grow too large for even the universe to handle. Not all planets are suitable for habitation. Whole solar systems might be toxic or barren or present all sorts of problems. A genocide would have to occur eventually, so life can continue stronger than ever.”

“Got all the answers, don’t you?” McCoy snapped in frustration.

“It is not as easy as it sounds, is it? If answers were easy, all of these things would have been done long ago.”

“Okay, I’m beginning to think that I’m approaching these wishes in the wrong way. Maybe I’m thinking too big. Maybe I should start small and make changes in my own immediate world.”

“Ah, Leonard, you may have something there. What would your wishes be then?”

Leonard thought, then looked up with interest. “Let me take pride in my work and in my dealings with others.”

“You do that already, don’t you?”

“Well, yes, but sometimes I forget.”

“And then you feel as if you have failed.”

“Well, yes.”

“You let yourself lose sight of your guiding principle in life. ‘To thyself be true.’”

McCoy grinned. “Well, yeah.”

“Okay, that is one. What else would you wish?”

“Let me live up to my own code of honor so that I can feel good about myself.”

“Back to the idea of being true to yourself?”

“Yes. But I think that it needs to be stressed.”

“Alright. What else? What is number three?”

McCoy was ready for him. “Let me appreciate the people in my life and accept them for what they are.” He grinned. “Even that aggravating Vulcan.”

“Leonard, think over what you have wished for. Can you sum up all of those in simpler terms?”

McCoy pondered. “Teach me to appreciate what I do have in life.” He looked at the spirit. “Now, that would be a true blessing. Envy and coveting and jealousy wouldn't exist.”

“And you are back to one wish,” the spirit reminded him.

“Oh, hell, I am,” McCoy muttered as he studied the floor. “What am I going to do with the other two wishes?”

“Indeed, Leonard, what will you do with them?” the Spock looking spirit prodded.

McCoy looked up with a sudden answer. “I will give them to my friends! Yes, that is what I will do! This is the season to be giving, so that will be my gift to them!”

“Even if they do not know about your generosity?”

“Isn’t that supposed to be the secret to true gift giving? Secrecy?”

“And so it is,” the spirit agreed with approval.

“So you’ll make certain that they receive my gifts?”

“Oh, yes, but you must realize that you have already given your gifts to them. They come from your heart everyday.”

“But I wanted these gifts to be something special.”

“They will be, Leonard. I will make certain of it.”

“How will you appear to them? As me?”

The spirit gave McCoy a questioning look.

“Come on. You can’t blame me, can you?” McCoy said sheepishly. “All of us got a little drama in us, don't we?”

“Well, I believe that Captain Kirk’s visitation should be from George Kirk.”

McCoy frowned. “The father he never knew?”

“Can you think of what a blessing that would be for Jim to finally meet his father?”

“It would be a gift that would know no bounds for him. How about Spock?”

“I think that maybe I will appear as a boy from his childhood.”

“What?!”

“Think of it, Leonard. Mr. Spock would have given anything if he could have had the approval of his childhood peers. It is not as important in adulthood, but it is devastating for a child to be ostracized by children his own age. He so wanted to belong back then. Should he not feel included, just once?”

McCoy conceded, then he looked up. “Wait! How come you came to me as Spock?”

“Because you want Spock to be your friend.”

“What?!”

“That is your secret hope.”

“I don’t know how you could come up with that!”

“I didn’t. You did.”

“Oh, hell,” McCoy muttered in defeat. “What does this all mean?”

“Whatever you want it to mean, Leonard.”

“Now you’re talking in circles. Hell, I don’t need this! I’m going back to bed! You're nothing but a little indigestion, anyway!” He turned toward his bed in anger.

His door chimed.

“Who in the hell?!” he muttered and charged for the door.

“Yes?!” he thundered as his door slid open.

Spock blinked at McCoy’s aggressiveness.

“How in the hell did you get out there?!”

“I walked,” Spock answered uncertainly.

McCoy spun around and stared at his easy chair. Empty.

“Doctor, are you unwell?” Spock asked with alarm as he stared at McCoy’s suddenly pale face.

McCoy put his hand to his forehead. “I’m beginning to think that I am.” Then he remembered his manners. He had a guest waiting in his doorway. “Come in. Come in,” he muttered. He motioned with his hand. “Sit down. Sit down.”

“That is your easy chair, Doctor. You take it, and I will sit over here.”

McCoy almost wanted to contradict Spock by saying that Spock had sprawled all over his easy chair a few moments before, so why should now be any different? But McCoy wisely held his tongue. Besides, he figured that any explanation would only bring further questions.

“What’s in your sack?” McCoy wanted to know.

“I saw that you had eaten very little dinner after such a difficult day in sickbay, so I brought you some nourishment.”

“You thought that I would be up in the middle of the night?”

“You are up, are you not?” Spock inquired.

McCoy couldn’t argue with logic like that, so he accepted the sack. Hummus. Egg salad sandwiches. Walnuts.

“I thought that you could use some high protein foods. Tomato soup is a delight, but you need to energize yourself so that you will not become ill yourself.”

“Thank you.”

“It was my wish to do this for you.”

“What?” McCoy asked, looking up.

“Pardon?”

“You said that it was your ‘wish’ to do this for me.”

“That it was, Doctor. Why do you ask?”

At that moment, McCoy’s door chimed again.

“It’s starting to get to be Grand Central Station in here. Can’t anybody sleep tonight? Come!” he hollered.

Jim Kirk appeared when the door opened.

“Oh, hi, guys. Spock, I didn’t know that you’d be here.”

“He brought food. Come on in and join the party.”

Kirk grinned in relief. “Thanks.”

“So, what brings you out in the middle of the night?” McCoy asked as Kirk settled in the third chair.

“Me? Oh, I just needed some company, and I wished that I could find someone still up.”

McCoy frowned. “You ‘wished’ it?”

Kirk scrunched comfortably into the chair. “Yeah. Anything wrong with wishes?”

“Not a damn thing,” McCoy answered with a lazy grin. “Not a damn thing, at all.” He held up the sack. “Spock brought some grub. Shall I replicate more, and we’ll have us a regular party?”

“While you’re at it, dig out your drinking whiskey, Bones. I think that I could handle a stiff belt of it.”

Elation filled McCoy. “I can do that. Spock, can I interest you in some chocolate?”

“I believe that I could be persuaded to indulge, Doctor.”

“Good. Then we can celebrate the season by being together.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kirk agreed. Spock’s mellow eyes showed that he had no objections, either.

And somewhere a spirit was happy with the three wishes that had been delivered that night. But the spirit knew that it could not take credit for the granting of the wishes. After all, that had come, as it always does, from the people involved, not from the spirit who had merely delivered them.

For all miracles come from the hearts of the good and truly blessed.


End file.
